Soil phosphorus and potassium solubilization in an experiment with field crops in the Great Brăila Island

Along with nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium are the most important nutrition elements for plants; they are to be found in all their organs, are components of the needed substances for vital processes, and have important roles in many biochemical reactions. Accessible fractions for plant nutrition are but small fractions of the total phosphorus and potassium soil contents. The influence of soil reaction (pH), humus content, and total forms upon phosphorus and potassium solubilization in the ammonium acetate lactate solution at pH 3.7, down to a 50 cm soil depth, was studied in an agro-chemical experiment carried out in six farms of the Great Brăila Island, with seven field crops diversely fertilized with nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur, and – for only one of the crops and in small quantities – potassium; phosphorus available contents for plants were also computed as in neutral – slightly alkaline soils as it is the case they are not the same with the contents analytically determined in the used extractant. Phosphorus and potassium solubilization degrees were very significantly influenced by soil reaction and in the case of potassium by the organic matter content too. Because of the neutral – slightly alkaline soil reaction phosphorus soluble in the ammonium acetate lactate solution and the one available for plants, found out by computing, were differently influenced. Effects registered under each crop were very significant for phosphorus and less for potassium following the diverse fertilization systems

Synthesis and Evaluation of Antimicrobial Activity of Tetranorlabdane Compounds Bearing 1,3,4-Thiadiazole Units

Synthesis of novel tetranorlabdane compounds bearing 1,3,4-thiadiazole units and intermediary tetranorlabdane compounds with thiosemicarbazone fragment has been reported. The structures of the new synthesized compounds were confirmed using IR and 1H, 13C, and 15N NMR spectroscopy. The in vitro antifungal and antibacterial activities of the mentioned compounds have been evaluated. Results of this study have shown that the 1,3,4-thiadiazole-2-imine has excellent activity against tested strains of fungi and species of bacteria at minimum inhibitory concentration values of 0.125 and 2.5 μg/mL, respectively

INFLUENCE OF DIFFERENT FERTILIZERS ON NPK CONTENT IN SOIL, IN CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE SYSTEM

This paper presents the results obtained from an experiment carried out in conservation agriculture system. Six types of fertilizers, i.e. N, NP, NPK and potassium humate NPK that contain various forms of nitrogen were tested. The experiments placed on cambic phaeozem at SCDA Teleorman were conducted using soybeans as crops, and fertilizers dosages of 50, 100, 150 and 200 kg N/ha. The influence of fertilizers on the nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, content in the soil after the harvest was investigated. Soil samples were collected at a depth of 0-20 cm. The laboratory tests were performed on conditioned soil samples. The experimental data was statistically processed using analysis of variance.It was observed that the use of fertilizers increased of the nitrogen content from the soil from 0.157% for the unfertilized sample to 0.189% for the sample fertilized with NPK 15:15:15 at the application dosage of 100 kg N / ha (21.8%). The phosphorus content increased from 72 ppm P2O5 in the case of the unfertilized sample to 98 ppm P2O5 for the sample fertilized with NP 20: 20: 0 (200 kg / ha dosage)

THE STUDY OF COMPULSIVE BEHAVIOR IN ONLINE SHOPPING

Despite the prevalence of Internet in our everyday life, little is known about consumer buying behavior in on-line purchases. Moreover, consumer buying disorder (CBD), one of the new addictions of the era, is poorly researched in the Romanian literature. This study aimed at identifying whether this disorder is present among Romanian students that purchase on-line through a questionnaire applied to 100 students attending the University „Dunarea de Jos” of Galati. An analysis of the responses yields that a 13% of the studied sample indeed presents characteristics of this disorder and confirms previous global studies that the compulsive buyers are majoritarian women. This work increases our understanding of on-line consumer buying behavior and will contribute to future research on similar topics

A Market-Based Economic Instrument to Better Use Water in Agriculture

The paper presents a market-oriented system of returnable guarantees that can be combined with tradable permits to encourage farmers to use alternative sources of water instead of the regular watering network, or to steer the farming system toward environmentally-friendly systems like low tillage and/or organic farming. Factual data from real farming were bootstrapped to test whether or not a set of farms could save water and reduce chemical input due to the higher cost of maintaining the status quo. Based on interactions between water, pesticides, fertilizers, and crops, the system of returnable guarantee determines the farmers to reduce the amount of water harvested from aquifers, generates benefits for the most environmentally-friendly farmers, and stimulate conversion to organic farming

Structure, reactivity, electronic configuration and magnetism of samarium atomic layers deposited on Si(001) by molecular beam epitaxy

The surface structure, interface reactivity, electron configuration and magnetic properties of Sm layers deposited on Si(0 0 1) at various temperatures are investigated by low-energy electron diffraction (LEED), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE). It is found that metal Sm is present on samples prepared at low temperature, with an interface layer containing SmSi2 and Sm4Si3. When samples are prepared at high temperature, much less metal Sm is found, with an increasing amount of SmSi2. Room temperature ferromagnetism is observed for all prepared layers, with a decrease of the saturation magnetization when samples are prepared at high temperature. It is found that ferromagnetism implies mostly a compound with approximate stoichiometry Sm4Si3. Also, the decrease in the intensity of the XAS 2p3/2 → 3d white lines with the corresponding increasing amount of SmSi2 may be explained by assuming a higher occupancy of Sm 5d orbitals (5d2 configuration), most probably due to hybridation effects

Organizing a microsurgery workshop for residents

Microsurgery represents an important branch in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. It involves fine skills which doctors need to repair nerves, vessels and thus being able to perform replantation and transplantation of different types of tissue. After traumatic injuries, a plastic surgeon is capable of either coverage of the exposed noble tissue or can perform the replantation of the amputated limb using microsurgery. This field can be very challenging at the beginning, but very rewarding in the end.  The utility microsurgery is quite vast; however, the skills to perform such surgery require a lot of training beforehand. Before doing any replantation or other tissue transplant in humans, it would be recommended that a surgeon should have a basic microsurgical course completed and afterwards several hours of practice in front of the microscope. Last but not least, one should also test the skills acquired in vivo, in order to improve and perform the correct manoeuvres from the beginning. In order to do this, a plastic surgery trainee must therefore have a dedicated laboratory where he/she can practice this art. This place should be quiet, equipped with microscopes and microsurgery instruments and authorized to perform experiments on live animals